Skip to main content

Learning to Think Spatially (2006) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

PART II: SUPPORT FOR SPATIAL THINKING--7 High-Tech Support Systems for Spatial Thinking
Pages 153-165

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 153...
... Part II Support for Spatial Thinking
Read the entire page →
From page 155...
... In everyday life, for example, we can use MapQuest to find routes for driving; in the workplace, architects use CAD systems for designing structures; and in science, statisticians use the visualization powers of Data Explorer to understand complex relationships among variables. Support systems range from low to high tech in character.
Read the entire page →
From page 156...
... They support a wide variety of spatial data types, have elaborate tools for geo-registering and integrating data, and typically provide high-quality cartographic tools. Their major drawbacks are poor support for the vertical dimension, poor support for the time dimension, complexity of the application program interfaces (APIs)
Read the entire page →
From page 157...
... GIS support a wide variety of data types, integrate and geo-register data, provide high-quality cartographic output, and support spatial analysis. However, they offer poor support for time, the vertical dimension, and multimedia.
Read the entire page →
From page 158...
... explicitly geographic data handling and processing capacities in many of the systems. Although software vendors seem to have no coordinated plan, systems are converging toward common goals because of the needs of business, industry, and government.
Read the entire page →
From page 159...
... As such, GIS stand in much the same relationship to geographic information as spreadsheet packages do to tabular information, word processors to text, or statistical packages to statistical data. All of these systems rely on a basic economy of scale: once the foundation has been established for storing a particular data type, it is possible to add a vast array of functions and to serve a similarly vast array of applications with a single software package.
Read the entire page →
From page 160...
... They are also widely used for analytical operations such as disease dispersion modeling, surface water flow analysis, and store location modeling. Vector data represent phenomena as discrete points, lines, and areas and capture location by assigning coordinates to these individual geometric objects.
Read the entire page →
From page 161...
... HIGH-TECH SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR SPATIAL THINKING 161 FIGURE 7.2 A raster-based map of Santa Barbara County. Relief ranges from black (low)
Read the entire page →
From page 162...
... because of their storage efficiency, the quality of their cartographic output, and the availability of functional tools for operations such as overlay, analysis, and modeling. A GIS stores geographic data as a collection of thematic layers (e.g., overlays of a map showing, for example, human population distribution, hydrology, transportation, soils, geology, land cover)
Read the entire page →
From page 163...
... Storing data in multiple thematic layers is a simple but powerful concept that has proven valuable for solving problems. The power of a GIS is that it enables us to ask questions of a database, perform spatial operations on databases, and generate graphic output that would be laborious or impossible to do manually.
Read the entire page →
From page 164...
... The introductory textbooks cited earlier provide abundant examples of GIS applications, and there are specialized books on the role of GIS in most major application areas. 7.4 THE CURRENT STATUS OF GIS Currently, GIS is the accumulative result of continual additions and occasional restructurings, over a 30-year period, to a complex architecture.
Read the entire page →
From page 165...
... . These standards emphasize approaching scientific tasks using the scientific method (Figure 7.7)
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • geographic data
  • geospatial data
  • information visualization
  • support spatial
  • supporting spatial

  • spatial analysis
  • data models
  • quantitative data
  • data types
  • data model

  • thematic layers
  • visual exploration
  • qualitative data
  • nonspatial data
  • vector data

  • geographic space
  • explicitly geographic
  • data explorer
  • attribute data
  • mapping tools

  • education standards
  • everyday life
  • graphing tools
  • common goals
  • analytical operations

  • gis stores
  • provide limited
  • limited support
  • cartographic output
  • vast array


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.